1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light-emitting semiconductor device using gallium nitride group compound which emits a blue light.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known that GaN compound semiconductor can be made into a light-emitting semiconductor device, such as a light-emitting diode (LED), which emits a blue light. The GaN compound semiconductor attracts attention because of its high light-emitting efficiency resulting from direct transition and of its ability to emit a blue light which is one of three primary colors.
The light-emitting diode manufactured from the GaN compound semiconductor is composed of an n-layer and an i-layer grown thereon. The n-layer of the GaN compound semiconductor with n-type conduction is directly grown on a surface of a sapphire substrate or grown on a buffer layer of aluminum nitride formed on the substrate. The i-layer of insulating (i-type) GaN compound semiconductor doped with p-type impurities is grown on the n-layer. (See Japanese Patent Laid-open Nos. 119196/1987 and 188977/1988.) The light-emitting diode of this structure has room for improvement in luminous intensity. In addition, it comprises no p-n junction but it is made by joining the i-layer and n-layer.
An electric property of the GaN compound semiconductor shows inherently n-type conduction even though it is not deliberately doped with n-type impurities, and unlike silicon and similar semiconductors, when it is doped with zinc of p-type impurities, the electric property shows not p-type conduction but insulation. Moreover, the production of n-type GaN involves many difficulties in controlling conductivity.